“This used to be the
poorest neighborhood in Jerusalem. Twenty-five years ago it was filled
with slums. Then the rebuilding began. Today it is one of the most
attractive areas in Israel, the place every tourist and every Israeli
must visit.”

We are sitting in the
soaring, spacious lobby bar of Jerusalem’s Hotel Mamilla,where the
general manager is filling us in on the story of this extraordinary
place. “This neighborhood was
built in the 19th century outside the walls of the Old City and adjacent
to the Jaffa Gate,” he tells us. “Today the neighborhood is home to
Alrov Mamilla Avenue --Jerusalem’s new shopping and entertainment
district.”

In the
days to follow, we will see for ourselves the stretch of beautiful
architecture with its high-end shops, cafes and restaurants as the
Mamilla Hotel is uniquely situated at the junction between new and old
Jerusalem, overlooking the Old City walls, the Tower of David and Jaffa
Gate. Within walking distance of many major historic sites, one can just
cross over the bridge and be at the Jaffa
Gate.

It occurs to us that we
are witnessing the culmination of a story that began in 1967 after the
unification of Jerusalem. That was when Mayor Teddy Kollek decided to
turn the neighborhood, long a symbol of a divided Jerusalem, into a
bridge to a shared life among Jews and Arabs in this most historic of
cities.

Now, standing at the
start of the boulevard-like pedestrian walkway that ends at the Jaffa
Gate, we take in the scene. High-design shops, boutiques and bistros
give way every so often to an open square, a historic site. The walls of
the Old City in the ubiquitous Jerusalem stone spread out before us.
Vistas open before our eyes,

Mamilla, we learn, is a
very old name in both Arabic and Spanish. It means the source of water,
and water is the source of life. In Spanish it also it means the nipple
of the bottle – the place the baby takes the milk from, the place from
which life begins. That is the meaning behind the name of the
neighborhood and also the name of the hotel.

“We created something
that didn’t exist in Jerusalem before – a very young hotel, modern,
sexy, a lifestyle hotel with so many facilities,” the general manager
tells us. “It was founded by Alfred Akirov, the first general manager of
the hotel. He invested a great deal of money in the project. Everyone
told him he was crazy. But he was a very sharp and clever businessman
and had the vision to make this place what it has become.”

Akirov’s vision was to
open a high class hotel that would last for the long term, not a
property that would exit after one year. Even if the hotel was
completely empty in the first month, even if it would take two, three
years, he and his staff would be there.

“At first, the guests
didn’t know what the Mamilla was,” the general manager told us. “It took
at least a year and a half to educate them. Some would say, ‘I’ll go
back to the David Citadel’ (the hotel next door). And some did. There
are always those who go; there are always those who stay.”

For those who decided to stay, there is the Mamilla Spa.
Named one of the best 25 spas in the world, it offers a range of
luxurious treatments enhanced by aromas and music and is geared to the
needs of the individual guest.

There are also inviting
dining outlets. Chief among them, we think is the rooftop restaurant
which offers, in addition to memorable culinary creations created by the
celebrity Chef Cobi Bahar, stunning perspectives of the Old City. Then
there is the Mamilla Cafe which serves dairy dishes, and the ever
popular wine bar in the hotel lobby, a setting with a distinctively
Italian ambience which has live music most nights and attracts a largely
secular Israeli and European crowd.

Fridays are special times
at the Mamilla where a jazz band performs in the lobby from noon through
the afternoon. Once evening falls, a four-member group of a cappella
singers take up the baton one floor down from the lobby area where the
acoustics, we’re told, are terrific.

In large measure,
Jerusalem is known for its cultural and historic aspects, Friday night a
cappella performances being excellent examples. Musical instruments are
not allowed at the Mamilla during the hours of Shabbat but a cappella
singing is not only permissible, it is also pleasurable. When this group
sings, everybody stops to listen.

The Mamilla does not
necessarily attract a largely Jewish crowd. “We don’t want huge
groups,” the G.M. tells us. “There are people who didn’t come to
Jerusalem for years and now say this place makes it doable for them to
rediscover Jerusalem, the Old City. We’ve created a different kind of
take on Jerusalem.

“Everyone who comes to
this area comes to Mamilla,” he adds. “We are fully booked at night,
but we don’t get any religious patrons. There is no Jewish presence.
That’s what you can find at the David Citadel, the Waldorf Astoria. But
that’s not what you find here. It’s not a place for big families. It’s a
place that makes you feel like you are in a very romantic hotel. It’s
something unique, something special, something you can’t find in any
other place in Israel.”

About the Authors: Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer are a wife and husband
team who successfully bridge the worlds of popular culture and traditional
scholarship. Co-authors of the critically acclaimed interactive oral histories
It Happened in the Catskills, It Happened in Brooklyn, Growing Up Jewish in
America, It Happened on Broadway, It Happened in Manhattan, It Happened in
Miami. They teach what they practice as professors at Dartmouth College.

They are also travel writers who specialize in luxury properties and fine dining
as well as cultural history and Jewish history and heritage in the United
States, Europe, and the Caribbean. More
about these authors.